In 1947, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists from the University of Chicago built the Doomsday Clock. The clock was originally used to indicate how much time is left until a nuclear war. The closer to midnight, the closer would be the end of the world. In 2007, global climate changing technologies were formally introduced as part of the clock and in 2010 it only had six minutes to go until midnight. I’m often left thinking, how can people change the future? Obviously, Green energy is one of the answers.
With the rise of civilization, the gradual depletion of the earth’s resources has been accelerated and the amount of carbon emissions has rapidly increased. To reduce the over-reliance on the traditional energy sources, renewable energy resource usage has become an important issue. Currently, the ratio of green energy power to traditional energy proportion is not high, but this in turn represents a great potential for future opportunities.
Similar to other energies, green energy needs to be effectively managed, whether in its power generation, power transmission / distribution, or on the end user side. All of the power needs to be monitored and controlled to optimize the benefits on the supply side. Take solar energy for example, how can the sun efficiently generate large amounts of energy and how can this energy be converted in to power? Regarding transmission / distribution, how can renewable energy integrate with the existing electricity grid, whilst, at the same time interconnect with the smart grid or even, stimulating and upgrading the grid? On the user side, how can we make the most energy efficient buildings with most effective energy use, and how can we develop better electric vehicles? This all requires further technology and research. Fortunately, we are taking steps in the right direction.
In some countries, we see the power of green energy: Germany was the first to support the global solar energy industry by being the first country to approve a renewable energy bill in 2000 and more than 17% of its energy comes from renewable energy sources.
While Denmark is the most wind powered nation. In the late 1970s, Denmark mastered the production of wind turbine manufacturing and wind power technology. According to the increase in demand from its domestic market, Denmark’s wind electricity generation industry is able to compete with fossil fuels.
From these two examples, we can see that green energy and economic development has developed from nothing into a win-win industry. At the Smart Planet program of 2008, IBM turned from a Big Blue into a Big Green giant. Now, economic development and energy saving are no longer on opposing sides. In 2010, Advantech adopted the Intelligent Planet (smart planet) concept; meaning that automation technology does not exist in a bubble and is part of the cradle-to-grave manufacturing lifecycle.
Although the current proportion of the green energy supplies is not high, and some technologies are also struggling to breakthrough, I still believe this will be an important trend in the energy industry. Advantech will play an important promotional role in the future for supply, transportation, and energy use. Working closely with customers, starting from the layout of greater China, and many different regions around the globe, we will offer different product strategies to help guide green energy into the industry, thereby stimulating a more environmentally friendly planet, and providing hope for a better society.
